The Gears of War series helped define Xbox 360. As Xbox One fast approaches, Microsoft Game Studios VP Phil Spencer suggested that they'd like to see more Gears games going into the next generation, but that he thinks they should reexamine the direction after Gears of War: Judgment's middling reception.

"I want to find a great Gears game, and I thought we did a good job with Judgment but I don't think it hit the level of quality we saw in the previous games," Spencer told IGN. "I think review scores showed that, sales showed that, and I really think that we need to take a step back with Epic and think about--I don't want to call it a reboot, because it's kind of an overused term--but think about where that franchise goes and how to expand what it was."

He said the series "did kind of run its course on 360," and that its story doesn't support as many games as the Halo series. That is, at least in its current incarnation. He suggested they would need to "expand the universe and what people are doing" to make it viable for future games. "Maybe take it more gritty, I don't know," he said.

One way to inject some new life into the franchise could be to find a new team. He says he'd "love to have that conversation" with Epic, but that Gears has been put on the backburner for the studio. Judgment was developed in part by People Can Fly. "Trying to find another team to do that game I think is possible, but you'd want to make sure you did that very carefully along with them to make sure we have the right thing in place," he said.